On Tuesday, nearly 30 people participated in a morning of citizen science with Partners of Scott County Watersheds with the Spring Snapshot.

Volunteers walking to a sampling site (contributed photo.)

The Snapshot is a day of water quality monitoring, which all around, provides a ‘snapshot’ of the water quality conditions around Scott County, a news release says. 

Volunteers Jacob Shoppa (left), Deb Wood (middle), and Dan Dennison (right) at a sampling site (contributed photo.)

Volunteers first gathered at Davenport Public Works, where they learned about water quality, testing methods, and how to collect data. Then, groups of three to four volunteers went out to over 60 sites throughout the county.

Volunteers Mike Alvarado (left) and Debbie Alvarado (right) testing for dissolved oxygen and recording data (contributed photo.)

Water quality monitoring was performed at each site, testing for parameters such as nitrogen, ammonia, pH, dissolved oxygen, and transparency.

(Volunteers Robert Gillespie (left) and Marco Castel (right) collecting water samples (contributed photo.)

After testing all their group’s sites, volunteers met back at Public Works to return their data to Partners of Scott County Watersheds, who will then compile and analyze the data to determine the health of our watersheds and identify areas of impairment. 

Kevin Bahrenfuss collecting a water sample with a turbidity tube (contributed photo.)

This data and analysis will be presented by Partners of Scott County Watersheds at their November forum; it can also be found here.

Volunteer Deb Wood testing for transparency. (contributed photo.)

For more information about Partners of Scott County Watersheds, water quality, and ways to get involved, visit here.